MIT abandons use of DEI statements

Why Evolution Is True | May 4, 2014

DEI statements are affirmations made when you’re applying for college admission, university jobs, or even science-society grants, recounting to the authorities your philosophy of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” your history of DEI activities, and how you will implement DEI initiatives if you get the admission/job/grant.  I have posted quite a bit about them (see collection here), and object to them because they are not only compelled speech and are often completely irrelevant to what you’re applying for, but also ignore the fact that there are many ways to make contributions to society beyond enacting DEI. (For example, what about a college applicant who has taught illiterate adults to read?)  And I think many institutions are eliminating them. For one thing, some of them may violate the recent Supreme Court decision on race-based admission. Now MIT has joined the statement-eliminators.

The top headline in the screenshot below, which really is true, needs to be promulgated widely, as MIT is doing all it can to keep it quiet. So pass it on, repost it, or whatever.

Because this report originally came from The Babbling Beaver (a website that satirizes the mishigass at MIT, much like the Onion but better), my friend Jay Tanzman, who sent it to me, wasn’t sure whether it was true or false (click to read):

Here’s the entire article, and you can get an idea of its snark, a snark that makes one wonder if the ditching of DEI statements is genuine. But it is! There is of course snark, like the “carrying water for Hamas” bit, but the kernel of the article is true.

Quietly, in the dead of night, with neither announcement nor fanfare, MIT President Spineless Sally Kornbluth did the right thing. She banned the use of DEI statements for faculty hiring and promotions, across all schools and departments at MIT. In order not to rile up the Wokies, she left it to the Beaver to get the word out.

A private anonymous faculty poll revealed that about two-thirds of MIT’s professors hate the damned things. Merit lives, despite the fact that supporters have been largely hiding under their desks afraid to fight back.

About one in twenty faculty polled believe “DEI activities are as important as research and teaching in evaluating candidates.” It’s time to track those people down and show them the door. That’s precisely how MIT got saddled with a race-grifting chancellor totally unqualified for the job, along with a party-pack of radical progressive humanities professors that have been driving MIT’s culture into the ditch.

It remains to be seen whether individual departments will continue training their graduate students how to fill out these loyalty oaths when they seek academic positions elsewhere. One would think ChatGPT could do a bang-up job.

Reaction has been muted, most likely because DEI true believers have been too busy carrying water for Hamas. Or maybe they’re beginning to see the writing on the wall as the whole country wakes up to the damage DEIdeology has done to our college campuses.

And so, the pendulum swings. May it keep on swinging until sanity is restored.

Jay then wrote to the publisher of the piece, who replied with a statement that I can put on this site. Note: the pejorative characterization of MIT’s President is the publisher’s, and I know almost nothing about Sally Kornbluth.  Below the asterisks is Jay’s comment, with the BB publisher’s statement doubly indented:

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I asked the Publisher if the story was true, and the Publisher replied that it is. Specifically, the Publisher replied:

“It’s true. MIT has banned DEI statements. We have multiple confirmations, including one from President Spineless Sally Kornbluth herself. Alas, she didn’t have the courage to announce it. As far as I can tell, this report from the Babbling Beaver is the first publication to mention it.”

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So that’s the report: another crack in the dam.